The iPhone 5 – What is it Actually Going to Cost Me?

The iPhone 5 launched this week to the usual Apple-born fanfare, with news leaking that it costs Apple just $167.50 to produce each device. But how does the new iPhone shape up in terms of costs for the everyday user in the UK?

The device is already retailing in the UK for £529 for a 16GB device, £599 for 32GB and a whopping £699 for a 64GB device, which inevitably has dropped the price of older devices significantly; indeed, if you’re thinking about taking out a mortgage or several payday loans (www.paydaybank.co.uk) to pay for the iPhon5, then you might wish to instead grab an iPhone 4S at around £100 than it retailed for less than a week ago.

Contract Prices

In terms of phone contracts, you’ll be looking at a much smaller initial outlay should you sign up to a phone provider, but inevitably the companies are looking to tie you in to long term, high cost contracts – that’s not to say they’re not worth it, but taking a look at all your options is important.

Taking the 16GB iPhone 5 device as our control, we can see how the providers measure up:

Should you be looking for their cheapest deal, Vodafone offers the handset itself for an initial £149 outlay, followed by a £33/month contract for 24 months. Ignoring any additional costs you might incur on this – this only covers 600 minutes and 500MB of data, plus free texts – you’ll be looking at an overall cost of £941 for the two years. Alternatively, you can grab a free phone for £47/month which will get you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB of internet usage (total for the 24 months: £1128).

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/newbookcovers/7714610022/

The Three network starts at a slightly higher monthly fee – £34 per month – but a lower price of £79 for the one-off fee at the start. Once more you’ll be looking at a 24 month contract, so all in all that puts you at a total spend of £895. What will that get you? Well, you’ve got what they term “all-you-can-eat data, plus 5000 texts and 500 anytime minutes, so if you’re a web junkie in need of some lengthy browsing time this might be the deal for you.

Orange and T-Mobile, who are now joining forces like some kind of communications transformer, offer the priciest low (at present) of £36/month and a one-time £109 payment for the device itself – totalling to £973. That’ll get you 2000 minutes, unlimited texts, and somewhat surprisingly, unlimited internet usage too.

O2’s Bargain

O2 are throwing in unlimited minutes and unlimited texts, plus 1GB of data every month, for a range of monthly fees. You can actually get the device itself entirely free should you wish, but it will cost you more over the course of the 2 year contract thanks to the £46/month fee (totalling at £1004. Slightly more economical is the £250 cost up front for the handset, meaning you’ll pay just £26/month as part of the contract (£874).

Everything Everything, the new 4G network, are yet to release their costs, though we’re wishfully hoping for some sort of pay as you go dongle deal.

So there you have it: the iPhone 5. There’s a deal for everyone out there, whether you’re a incessant chatterer, relentless texter or just love the surf the web all day long, so consider your options and pick the one that works best for you